Response to Analysis of UK Venture Capital Financial Returns report

"The latest report from the British Business Bank, Analysis of UK VC Financial Returns, builds on the findings of the recent Future of DC Pensions to provide further evidence of the attractiveness of UK Venture Capital as an asset class.

Taken over the period from 2002-2011, it is encouraging to see returns from UK VC come out ahead of those of the US – contrary to the received wisdom about those markets.

This new analysis is also a first step in the right direction to meet the data quality challenge that was highlighted in British Business Bank’s recent report into the Future of DC Pensions.

At British Patient Capital, we have been able to draw on our own data from a decade of investing though British Business Bank and its predecessors. Improving the quality of the data available to the market more generally is vital in helping the advisory community and investors to understand the value of the asset class.

This is a complex challenge which needs a coordinated approach from the industry and government to solve, but the issue of the quality of industry data is one we need to address if we are to make investment viable on a mass scale.

That is why we are working with the BVCA and the fund community to bring a greater consistency and robustness to VC financial data, to enable long-term investment decisions to be made more readily.